1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to power management, and more particularly to an electronic device and power management method for an audio control system of the electronic device.
2. Description of Related Art
Electronic devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDA), mobile phones, digital cameras (DC) and handheld computers execute media applications to play back audio data via audio control interfaces installed therein.
Many applications utilize audio output capabilities typically available in electronic devices. Operating systems in electronic devices allow users to operate many applications that provide playback of audio streams and other data at the same time.
A frequently used audio playback system in an electronic device includes a plurality of applications playing audio streams, an audio driver, a mixer module and an audio processor. The audio driver is operable to convert the audio streams into a format of the audio stream. The mixer module is operable to mix the audio streams. The audio processor is operable to convert the mixed audio streams from a digital format into an analog format, and then to output the converted audio stream to speakers.
Audio volume controlled by an application can be adjusted according to different situations. However, while the volume can be reduced until the media application is in a mute mode, audio streams continue to be transmitted and executed by the audio program, thus consuming power of the electronic device despite the application remaining in the mute mode.